Page 74 of Vendetta
‘Sophie,’ he said, his voice full of strain. ‘I really need you to be quiet about what you just saw.’
I could feel my face growing hot with anger. I grabbed hisshirt and pulled him around the side of the arch. ‘You lied to me!’
His hands shot up in surrender. ‘I didn’t lie, Sophie. I just… left out certain things. Let me explain.’
I shoved him. ‘You made me believe you were good!’
‘I am good!’
‘No, you’re not!’ I shoved him again. ‘You made me think you were innocent. You made me believe you weren’t part of all that crazy Mafia stuff!’
Cautiously, Nic removed my hands from his chest. ‘I never said that.’
‘You had plenty of time to set the record straight.’ I wanted to slap him. It took every ounce of my self-control to curl my hands by my sides.
‘I know.’
‘But you didn’t.’
Purpose and defiance flashed in his eyes. ‘I didn’t have enough time to explain everything. But I didn’t lie to you. Everything I said was true, just not in the way you might have taken it.’
‘I asked you if you hurt people! You said no!’
He came closer. ‘I said it wasn’t like that. And it’s not. Everything I do is about protection.’
‘Protection,’ I scoffed. ‘Is that what you tell yourself when you put yourgunin someone’smouth?’
He pulled me into him. ‘Listen to me.’
‘Don’t,’ I cried, feeling the tears swarm behind my eyes. ‘I’m scared of you.’
He recoiled like I really had slapped him. ‘I told you I would never hurt you.’
‘How do I know that?’
He stared at me so hard it took my breath away, and after an agonizing moment, he responded quietly. ‘Because you’re a good person.’
I glowered at him. ‘That makes one of us.’
‘I’m a good person too.’
‘You just put a gun in Robbie Stenson’s mouth,’ I hissed.
‘I’m sorry you had to see that, but it was inevitable.’
‘Howis an assault like that inevitable?’
His eyes darkened, but he didn’t respond.
‘You must know how totally unacceptable that was. I have to report it to the police.’
‘Sophie, it was foryou. How could I let him walk away from me after I found out what he tried to do to you?’
I backed away from him again. ‘Are you insane, Nic? You know you can’t just go aroundpulling guns on peoplefor me. I can take care of myself!’
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. ‘That was a service to society. Stenson is the type of character who won’t stop at just one girl. It was everything I could do shy of actually blowing his head off.’
I gasped. ‘Can you not be so graphic?’
